Naiven can inhabit a body of any age, but Naiven themselves only live to be about 80 years old. Therefore, no Vaylen can exceed 70 years old in character burning.
A Vaylen player may choose the actual age of his body—and hence his outward appearance. Naiven age and body age do not have to correspond.
Vaylen Host Bodies
Since Vaylen bodies are not their own, there is no age chart for stat pools. Use the appropriate body trait to determine the character’s starting base stat pools:
human
DtStat pools: 8 M, 15 P. (Maximums: P 8, W 8, A 6, S 6, P 6, F 6.) Human bodies may only be taken as a host body if the Vaylen character has taken Human Caste or Vaylen setting lifepaths.
A human body is the most precious commodity for Vaylen. To inhabit such a host is to exist in the highest echelons of Vaylen society. Human bodies are precious because they grant the ability to think clearly, to reason abstractly, to know and enjoy art and to feel subtle and refined emotions and sensations. Even more so, they are desired because they are comparatively rare: There are hundreds of billions of humans scattered throughout the crumbling Iron Empires; there are hundreds of trillions of Naiven without hosts, waiting in nutrient tanks for their families to provide them with a body.
Child
DtStat pools: 6 M, 11 P. (Maximums: P 7, W 7, A 5, S 5, P 5, F 5.) One of the truly bizarre aspects of Vaylen life is that they may, if they are wealthy and powerful enough, choose to inhabit the mind of a child host and see the world through its eyes. It can best be described as an adventurous vacation for Vaylen potentates. You must have the Child trait to start the game in a child body. Vibhuuten or Meshhen characters with this trait may take an extra child body if they can afford it.
Ksatriyen
DtStat pools: 6 M, 16 P. (Maximums: P 6, W 6, A 6, S 6, P 6, F 7.) Ksatriyen (K-saht-tree-en) bodies may be taken by characters with Ksatriyen Caste lifepaths. There is no set Ksatriyen body. They are anthromorphs, sentient and sapient—so they are useful, but they lack the adaptability of the highly developed human mind. Players are free to develop traits for their Ksatriyen Caste bodies using the Alien Life-Form rules. However, since the
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Vaylen
Kerrn disaster, Vaylen keep tight restrictions on the capabilities bred into theKsatriyen Caste.
Ksatriyen bodies may be embellished with five points of traits from the Alien Life-Form chapter. Choose from the Natural Weapons, Natural Armor and Inhuman Ability categories. Players may supplement these trait points with excess trait points from their lifepaths.
Makara
DtStat pools: 7 M, 14 P. (Maximums: P 7, W 7, A 6, S 4, P 4, F 6.) Makara bodies are only available to the Yaadasahm clan. The name Makara comes from the original Vaylen stock—Cnidaria Makara—great, intelligent jellyfish that plied the oceans of the Vaylen
homeworld. They were the first race enslaved by the Naiven, and the first creatures to become true Vaylen. Long since naturally extinct, the Makara exist only in the Yaadasahm breeding vats. The clan has genetically preserved the creatures, because they prefer these hosts above all others. In fact, the Yaadasahm disdain other hosts. They will only take Ksatriyen hosts in times of war and need, and even then only reluctantly.
Makara are massive aquatic creatures with pliable, jelly-like flesh, a large, complex brain and multiple tentacles and pseudopods capable of manipulating tools. They have the following Alien Life-Form traits: Membranous Flesh (character trait), Tentacles (Advantage: +1D to Surgery and Close Combat) and Aquatic (Inhuman Ability to breathe water and swim without penalty).
Shudren
DtThe Shudren (Shoo-dren) caste is considered little more than cattle among the Vaylen, and are taken only as hosts as the last resort. Some families can do no better than Shudren caste, but even for the more powerful families, there are so many raw Naiven that most
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are consigned to the clan’s Shudren hosts as a labor pool. Shudren caste Vaylen may take one of two bodies, the generic Shudra or a Mukhadish. The stat pools are the same for both types—5 M, 20 P—but the stat maximums and traits are different. Shudra maximums: P 4, W 4, A 6, S 4, P 7, F 7. Mukhadish maximums: P 5, W 3, A 4, S 5, P 8, F 8. If you choose a Mukhadish, use the Mukhadish Common Traits described in the Mukhadish chapter to describe the creature’s body. If not, take eight trait points worth of traits from the Alien Life-Form chapter.
Vaishyen
DtStat pools: 8 M, 14 P. (Maximums: P 6, W 6, A 7, S 6, P 4, F 4.) Vaishyen (Vy-
sh-ee-en) bodies may be taken if the character has Vaishyen Caste lifepaths. Vaishyen Caste bodies are decidedly inhuman. They are insectile, arachnidial or cephalopodal and were bred for their role by the master eugenicists in the Vaishyen Caste. Their function is to be able to operate in a highly technical/ technological environment. The Vaylen eugenicists have designed their own bio-organic tools—fine manipulators, multiple sets of eyes and the ability to doggedly concentrate on complex technical tasks. Therefore they often prefer these less adaptable hosts to the fashionable human form.
Players who choose Vaishyen bodies may embellish these bodies with six points of traits from the Alien Life-Form chapter. They may choose from the Inhuman Skill, Advantage and Tweak categories. They may supplement these trait points with excess trait points from their lifepaths.